Experimental effects of laser power on the writability and PW/sub 50/ in a heat assisted longitudinal recording system

In a heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) system, light from a laser diode is used to heat the medium which assists in the recording process by temporarily reducing the coercivity during writing. The recorded marks are read back using a magnetoresistive (MR) sensor that senses the stray flux from a magnetic transition. In this paper we examine the effects of the laser power on the writability and the pulse width at half maximum (PW/sub 50/) for granular longitudinal media.